2025 Eagles Training Camp Preview: Uncertainty On The Edge

Add in the Eagles pulling the plug on Bryce Huff one disappointing season into a three-year, $51 million contract via a trade with San Francisco, and you’re left with a group in which third-year player Nolan Smith raced from afterthought to centerpiece faster than his sub-4.4 40 time.

The bust label was at least Smith adjacent before injuries to Huff and Graham upped the Georgia product’s playing time in Week 12 last season. The 30th overall pick in the 2023 draft came through in a big way with seven sacks over his final 10 games en route to a Super Bowl LIX championship.

Whether Smith can keep that pace for 17-plus games in the 2025 season will be one of the major storylines for the Eagles. And it should be noted that Smith tore his triceps in the big game and was limited to individual work during the spring.

Smith, who was wearing a large brace on his left arm, claimed he was “ready to strike” during the Eagles’ one-day minicamp in June, but the team stayed cautious.

Although undersized, Smith can set the edge in run support, drop into coverage as a flat defender if needed, and rush the passer, which is the kind of well-rounded skill set defensive coordinator Vic Fangio craves.

For now, second-year pro Jalyx Hunt, a late-blooming former safety when he started college at Cornell, is penciled in for Sweat at right end. 

Billed as a developmental prospect as a third-round draft pick last year, Hunt was able to swim a bit when thrown into the deep end of the pool due to those aforementioned Graham and Huff injuries, albeit in a much smaller sample size than Smith.

Like Smith, Hunt is gifted as a pass rusher from an athleticism standpoint but needs to sharpen up his technique and develop a deeper pass-rushing bag. 

Ironically, Fangio felt Hunt was farther ahead in run support as a rookie, and the Houston Christian product has the frame to add size and weight to further supplement that part of his game.

The contingencies for Smith and Hunt are prove-it veterans Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche, who signed one-year deals. 

Ojulari showed signs as a rusher for the New York Giants but had trouble staying healthy over the last three seasons, missing 22 games over that span. 

Uche was a one-hit wonder in New England with 11 ½ sacks in 2022. 

Sixth-round pick Antwaun Powell-Ryland brings along tremendous college production from Virginia Tech, while jack-of-all-trades Patrick Johnson is back as a special-teams player and last resort.

Fangio didn’t inspire much confidence in the deep depth group when he tabbed K.J. Henry and Ochaun Mathis as “the other guys” in the spring.